When you think honestly about things you’ve done or things you might do, you may indeed consider yourself guilty. If to sin is to miss the mark of perfect love, then indeed we are all sinners. Yet a fundamental teaching of true spirituality and a necessary condition for self-love is to know that you are not guilty. How can this be reconciled?

By eternity is meant the present moment. Eternity does not mean that time goes on forever; rather, that time doesn’t exist. There was never a time when it was not now. Yes, everything is always changing and so are we—but it is all happening in this eternal now.

To understand the concepts of time and eternity correctly is to learn to forgive yourself and others. To carry any guilt or baggage from the past is to go about the now in a twisted way—to act in ways that continue to miss the mark even though you could do better. Now consider this: in this moment, are you guilty of anything? No.

To forgive yourself for the past is to reconcile it and to address it with presence and perfect love now. To forgive others is to teach and allow them the same opportunity for correction. We are divine beings—rays of light all part of the oneness of light. We are not guilty, though we have errored. The good news is that error can be corrected now (and it is always now). When error is corrected, what purpose is there for holding anyone guilty for the past?

You can use your mind to judge your past guilt, but then you can use the thought system of perfect love to undo it now. Your mind’s use of time is a practical tool, and is necessary in this world. But your memories and your imagination is not the full truth of what is.

In the eternal present, you are innocent. Be here and align with unconditional love. Feel guilt melt away and no longer even exist.